Online Class VS Traditional Class-Essay by Carly Mathiot

Online Class VS Traditional Class

By Carly Mathiot

An online class and a traditional class are two very different ways of learning. The choice of either one is a big decision. To choose the right one for you, you should know what kind of learner you are.

SOCIAL LIFE

Online school is much less hands on; You stay at home alone all day on the computer and you never see your classmates. There are no study groups but there may be support forums. You never make physical contact with anyone including your teacher.  

In a traditional class you get out of the house, go to school, meet your teacher and get to know them in person. You sit in a class room with all your other classmates and sometimes even critique their work.

ASSIGNMENTS  

In an online class after you read the lesson and  teach yourself about the subject, you take the quizzes assigned to you, do the assignments and turn them in via internet.

In a traditional class, the teacher verbally gives you assignments and you go home, do the work and then physically turn in your work to them.

LEARNING

In an online class, if the teacher is not good at conveying their thoughts into words, then you must find a way to learn it another way.

In a traditional class, this problem is less common because you learn in the classroom and are easily able to raise your hand and ask a question or ask them to explain it to you another way.

Communication is less interactive over the internet. It's harder because you have no direct access to you teacher. If you need to ask a question, you must email them and wait for a response. If they don't get the email then what happens?

You can’t call them, you can't meet them. If your internet is down you have no hope of getting anything done and are set behind, much like when you get sick and have to skip a day out of school.

Online school is much less hands on. Interaction with your teachers and the other students in your class is important for your learning experience.

Being disciplined to sit down and read the lesson is the hardest thing. You become tempted to skim over the lesson, especially if its seven pages long with thirty questions, and to look up each question on the internet. When you sit down to do your quiz, you end up knowing nothing about the subject.

An online class and a traditional class are too completely different ways of learning and living.  

To make the right choice, you must know the best way for yourself to learn.  Making the right choice for yourself can affect your future and can make your school years much easier and pleasant for you. Not only that, you will get much more out of your education.

The Effects of Facebook-Essay

The Effects of Facebook

By Carly Mathiot

        I used to be a social butterfly; I was outgoing, I never felt like I had to make excuses not to see my friends. I was always nervous to make the commitment of seeing someone. What if I had nothing to say?

        Until I was fourteen, there was no other way to communicate other than making a phone call, making plans and talking to your friend in person. That's how I did it. I didn't text much.

        Ever since then, I slowly started hanging out with my friends less. I'd talk to them on Facebook and then when we got together in person, there was nothing to say.        

        When you're on facebook, it feels like you're being social. You are in this virtual world where you have friends and you chat with them and see their pictures. It gives you the illusion and the feeling  socialization, but you are really all by yourself.

       

        I began to be afraid of going out and talking to people because I was afraid of having nothing to say. For a while I literally became a hermit and for quite a while, I didn't text or talk to anyone on facebook or otherwise.

        I could never tell who my friends were. on facebook I currently have 188 friends. I hardly know any of them. I read their posts, like them, comment. its very rare we see each other in person and I'm sure there are some I've never met.

        Sure, facebook claims to connect people, but only virtually, not physically. Having a facebook and letting myself build a comfort zone around myself has caused me to miss so many opportunities.

        I get invited to hang all the time, but because its out of my little virtual comfort zone, where you can leave the conversation anytime, I miss out on having real relationships. There are no commitments, there's no face to face, there's no confrontation on facebook. on facebook i am safe.

       I have never been on a real date or ever had a boyfriend. i'll talk to boys on the internet, but if they ask me out face to face, I lie. I lie and tell them I can't. I'm to scared to go out. Having a facebook has affected my romantic life as well as my social life.

        once again, being put on the spot, being taken out of my comfort zone, I instantly recoil from the thought and hide in my bed to watch others live via facebook.

        I'm not blaming facebook, but I am blaming myself for letting facebook be my happy place. It's become a wall, cutting me off from the world with only a brick missing so I can see what's out there, but I can't be a part of it.

       

        I've become lonely and depressed. I'll go on facebook to seek social interaction on a holiday or spring break, and there will literally be no one on facebook. that's when I really feel alone and desperate.

        The illusion of a social life is shattered and the realization that everyone else is out living their lives without me hits home. I've slowly been reaching out again. I even joined a dating site. I call people I trust to hang out, but still its hard for me to be alone with someone.

        I still feel the need to be in a group so I don't feel pressure to make conversation. I still hide among other peoples lives instead of making a path of my own. I'm a tag along girl who only comes out at night because she's afraid of what sunlight will show her. no one really knows who she is and what she's like. This is what I have let happen to me and now I have to pick up the pieces.